Kameli Law, P.C. Files Lawsuit Against the United States Government on behalf of individuals who were forced to participate in mandatory Iranian military service with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC or Sepah)

Attorney Taher Kameli representing clients for more than 26 years.

CHICAGO, Jan. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kameli law, P.C. announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit in Federal Court of Northern District of Illinois (Bahiraei v. Blinken, 22cv7360) against the United States government on behalf of three Iranian citizens who were allegedly denied an immigrant visa that they were eligible for.

The lawsuit seeks to challenge the United States Departments of Homeland Security and State's alleged failure to enforce a new federal regulation that authorizes an exemption and waiver to otherwise millions of inadmissible Iranians.

The regulation, published by the Secretaries of Homeland Security and State on June 23, 2022, exempts certain Iranians who participated in foreign terrorist organizations (i.e., the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)) from inadmissibility to the U.S. under the terrorism-related inadmissibility grounds (TRIG). The exemption under this regulation permits otherwise eligible Iranians seeking an immigrant or nonimmigrant visa to apply for a waiver from the TRIG bars that would have once rendered them inadmissible. Iranians who participated in designated or undesignated terrorist organizations must show that they provided insignificant or limited material support to the organization or any member of such organization to be eligible for the exemption.

The U.S. government's failure to follow and lawfully execute its immigration policies is creating hardships for Iranians everywhere, including in the United States. The result of the U.S. government misinterpreting and misapplying its policies is that previous, outdated policies, such as the automatic TRIG bar to admissibility for individuals who had any prior involvement, including involuntary, with the IRGC, continue to be enforced.

"No individual or agency is above the law, and the U.S. government must be tried in a court of law and held liable for its egregious conduct that has affected millions and to ensure that no agency, now or in the future, thinks it can act outside of the law again and get away with it," said Principal Attorney Taher Kameli. "We must hold the U.S. government accountable for its unlawful behavior just as the government does its people." 

SOURCE Kameli Law, P.C.